I've done a variety of puddle ducks plucked and roasted. I've done it in the oven but It's great on the BBQ too! make a big U with your coals (indirect heat) and put the duck in the middle, breast up. I don't bother with stuffing the cavity. Big ducks will cook to med rare in about 25 to 30 mins, teal about 15 mins. fluid will collect in the cavity. use it to baste a few times while cooking. Tastes like prime rib. Even did a spoonie once, and it came out awesome! PM me for details if interested.

i too am interested in cooking some whole ducks. It seems it takes some experamenting unless you have a cooking thermometer? I think I would end up overcooking it without one. The ducks around these parts dont have their full colors yet and have lots of pin feathers. Any secrets for pulling our pin feathers, or should I wait another week or two to pluck my birds?

BrentP wrote:i too am interested in cooking some whole ducks. It seems it takes some experamenting unless you have a cooking thermometer? I think I would end up overcooking it without one. The ducks around these parts dont have their full colors yet and have lots of pin feathers. Any secrets for pulling our pin feathers, or should I wait another week or two to pluck my birds?

I have never done it but seen it done where you can take a lighter and singe them off. May be worth a shot.

I take a torch and singe all the birds I pluck to get the fine down, and some of the real small feathers. The problem wit hpin feathers is the black quill that goes into the skin. It does not really burn off, I wait to pluck birds.

Hey you guys i did the grilled plucked duck jeff (quackie) said it is beyond excellent my new favorite recipie... I did it with a teal and a spoonie both were great. Plucked the weidgon i got this weekend cant' wait to do it again.

Last season I breasted the birds I got, except for my first honker. I plucked it and vowed I'd never pluck another bird again. Since I love food and cooking so much, I decided this season I was going to pluck everything I shot. Steak tastes better in the bone, so I figured duck must as well. So I have plucked everyone so far.

Saturday night I made my first whole roast duck. Made a bed of onions and apple slices mixed with rosemary and thyme to place them on, stuffed the cavity with onion apple and herbs, put some butter and herbs between the breast and skin, and a bit extra butter on top of it all for extra moisture. Rout was a teal and a widgeon, and roasted at 500 degrees, teal took 12 minutes and the widgeon 15. Teal could have probably come out at 11. I found the recipe on www.honest-food.net.

For plucking, I pull as many feathers off as I can and then use a blow torch to singe off the rest. For pin feathers, a needle nose plier does the trick. There is a great article on honest-food.net, a blog about hunting, fishing, foraging, and cooking, that talks about a way to pluck them using paraffin wax and hot water. I found a video of it on the net and this method makes plucking them a breeze. Once I find the wax and a big enough pot, I'll be set.

I used to use a small torch to take off the little hair feathers, but last week I got a hold of a weed burner torch or roofers torch type thing that hooks up to the bbq. It's a bigger flame, and one quick pass over the birds takes the feathers off, and its fast enough that the skin doesn't singe or shrink up at all like it did with the plumbers torch. Just lay out all the birds, pass over them quick with the torch, flip em and do it again and they're done.

I usually take a heavy pair of kitchen shears and cut up the back on both sides of the spine removing the spine and neck (save them up for soup!) then open the bird up and do it on the grill like that, inside down to start, then flip it and brown the skin. You can keep them nice and rare this way and the legs and breast get done at the right time.

If you want to pluck your birds, dip them in boiling water for a couple of turns. The feathers come right off. If some are a bit stuck, stick the duck back in the boiling water. Then cut the legs and head off and gut. I've used this for teal to turkeys. Watch your hands so you don't get burned.